Pneumatic cotton-picker.



Patented Oct. I6, |900.

z Sheets-Sheet l.

w. H. MEvERs.

PNEUMATIG COTTON PICKER.

(Application filed Mar. 28, 1900.)

(No Model.)

No. $59,752. Patented .0ct. I6, |900.

W. H. MEVERS.

PNEUMATIC COTTON PICKER. (Application med Mar. 2s, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

)emails PETERS co. PHOTO-umd.. WASHINGTON, u. c

. ATENT OFFICE.

INILLIAM H. MEVERS, OF STURGIS, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO GREEN W. PRITCHETT, `OF CORYDON, KENTUCKY.

PNEUMATIC COTTON-PICKER.

SPECIFICATION 'Olmng part Of Letters Patent N0. 659,752, dated October 16, 1900.

Application filed Marcil 28, 1900- Slitl. No. 10,525. (N0 model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern/.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. MEvERs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sturgis, in the county of Union and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Pneumatic Cotton-Picker, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improved pneumatic cotton-picker, a leading object of my invention being to provide an ambulant pneumatic apparatus which is adapted to pull the cotton downward from the bolls and avoid breaking the old hulls of the bolls, and thus prevent the same from becoming commingled with the cotton to the detriment of the latter.

My invention consists in the combination, with a fan-casing, of a pneumatic trunk pivotally connected thereto and a series of depending flexible pneumatic tubes attached to said trunk and adapted to be so disposed as to be drawn across the cotton-plants and pneumatically pick the cotton from the bolls.

My invention further consists in a flexible pneumatic tube having an upturned gathering or receiving mouth adapted to pass under the cotton-boils and subject the same to the action of a downward air-exhaust current,

whereby the cotton is pulled downward from the bolls withoutbreaking the old hulls thereof and causing the same to become commingled with the cotton and conveyed therewith to the receiver.

My invention further consists in the peculiar construction and combination of devices hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a sidey elevation, partly in section, of a pneumatic cotton-picker embodying my improvements, the pneumatic trunk being shown as extended in the direction of the length of the truck or ambulant support on which the fan and operating mechanism thereforare mounted. Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the same, showing the pneumatic trunk disposed in operative position at right angles to the truck and on one side thereof. Fig. 3 is a detail inverted plan view of the pneumatic trunk. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective View of one end thereof. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view of the elbow which forms the pivotal connection of the trunk. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of one of the iiexible pneumatic pickertubes, showing the parts thereof disconnected. Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view of one of the unions for connecting the picker-tubes to the pneumatic trunk, showing the same closed by a cap.

In the embodiment of my invention I employ an ambulatory support, such as a truck or wagon of suitable construction, which is adapted to be drawn between the cotton rows, or rather astride of the same, the body 1 of said support or truck being supported by wheels 2, which are independently mounted on standards or brackets 3, that depend from the body of the truck, and said wheels and said standards or brackets are of such size and proportions that the body of the truck is at such a height that the same passes over the tops of the cotton-plants and clears the same. On the said truck is mounted the casing 4 of an exhaust-fan 5, and a suitable engine or motor (indicated at 6 for the purposes of illustration) is also mounted on the truck and is connected to the exhaust-fan and operates.

the same. Any suitable form of motor and fan may be employed.

The casing 4 of the exhaust-fan is provided with a rearward-extending discharge-arm '7, having the downturned elbow 8, the rear upper side of which is open, as at 9, and is covered with wire-gauze or other foraminous material, as at 10. This construction of the discharge-arm of the fan adapts the cotton which is conveyed thereto to drop into`v a suitable basket or other receptacle below the elbow 8, while the current of air escapes through the opening 9. r

The induction-opening l1 of the fan casing or drum is provided with an annular liange 12, which is horizontally disposed and engages an annular groove 13 in the lower side of an elbow 14, thereby pivotallyconuecting said elbow to said fan-casing. attached the inner end of a pneumatic trunk 15, the outer end of which is closed. As here shown, said trunk is rectangular in cross-section, but the same may be cylindrical in form or of any other suitable shape, and it will be To this elbow is observed by reference to Figs. 1 and 2 ofthe drawings and understood from the foregoing description that the said pneumatic trunk is pivotallj7 connected to the casing of the cX- haust-fau and is adapted to be swung laterally to either side of the truck or to be disposed in vany other position relative thereto. Said trunk may be of any suitablelength, accord i ng tothe desired capacity ofthe machine, so that it maybe disposed, when the machine is in operation, over one or any suitable number of rows of cotton-plants. The length of the said trunk should of course correspond to the capacity of the exhaust-fan and operating-motor thereof. A rack-plate 16, which is annular in form, is disposed concentrically around the pivotal joint of `the pneu matic trunk and is engaged by a detent 17, pivotally connected to the under side ofthe trunk, said detent and said rack-plate thus serving to lock the trunk at any required adjustment, as will be understood.

From the lower side of the pneumatic trunk depend series of flexible pneumatic pickertubes 18, one or more of said series being provided, according tothe length of the trunk and the number of rows of cotton on which the machine is adapted to simultaneously operate. The pneumatic picker-tubes of each series vary in length, as indicated in Fig. 1, and hence as the same are drawn through and across a cotton-plant, practically all of the bolls of cotton thereon are subjected to the exhaustcurrents of air which pass through the picker-tubes and the pneumatic trunk. The flexible pneumatic tubes 18 are connected to the lower side of the pneumatic trunk by suitable couplings 19, each of which comprises a member 20, formed with the plate or iiauge 2l, which is secured to the pneumatic trunk by suitable bolts or rivets, and said members 2O being coincident with openings in the lower side of the pneumatic trunk and a member 21 secured to one of the tubes. To the lower end of each flexible pneumatic picker-tube is coupled a metallic section 22, forming an inverted gooseneck and provided with a flared mouthpiece 23, and a globular enlargement 24 at the base of the mouthpiece. It will be observed by reference to Figs. l and 6 of the drawings that the mouthpieces at the lower ends of the flexible pneumatic picker-tubes are upturned, and it will be understood that as the picker tubes are drawn through the cotton-plants the said upturned mouthpieces pass below the bolls of cotton and subject the latter to downward exhaust-currents of air, which cause the `ripe cotton to be drawn from the bolls and to be caught by and pass through said mouthpieces and picker-tubes into the pneumatic trunk, and from thence past the fan and through the discharge-arm 7 of the fan-casin g, from which the cotton drops,as hereinbefore stated, into a basket or other suitable receptacle.

It is a fact that the old, dried, or rotten hulls ,of `cottolrbolls adhering to the plants break off very easily under stress exerted thereon in any other than a downward direction, but resist `downward stress and are not so easily detached from the plants'in adown ward direction as in other directions. Itis an object of importance to avoid detaching case where the cotton-bolls'are subjected to the action of upward lcurrents olair applied in other than a downward direction, and hence the fragments lof such hulls are not dislodged from the plants and conveyed and commingled withthe cotton, and the cotton is preserved from the deterioration in quality and value incident to snch commingling of the fragments of the oldhulls therewith.

While the series of depending pneumatic picker-tubes will as they are drawn across the cotton-plants pick or abstract the major portion of the cotton from the bolls, some ot' the bolls will of course escape the action of said pneumatic picker-tubes and will be left intact upon the plants. Hence in order to thoroughly harvest the cotton crop the same must be gleaned by hand, and to adapt my improved pneumatic cotton-picking machine to be used for the purposes of such gleaning simultaneously with itsfeficient operation in picking the major portion of the cotton I provide the pneumatic trunk with a suitable number of ilexible pneumatic tubes 25, which are of sulicient length to Abe grasped and manually operated by 4(persons who walk between the rows of cotton plants in rear of the machine. Said tubesi25 are similar to the tubes 18, excepting inl length.

Having thus described my invention, I claiml. In a cotton-picking machine, a fan-casing, a pneumatic trunk pivotally connected thereto and flexible pneumatic picker-tubes attached to said trunk, substantially as described.

2. In a cotton-picking machine, the combination witha fan-Casin g, a pneumatic trunk pivotally connected thereto, means to secure said trunk at any desired adjustment, `and flexible pneumatic picker-tubes attached to said trunk, substantially as described.

3. In a pneumatic cotton-picker, a flexible pneumatic picking andlconveying tube having an upturned mouthpiece, and means to create an exhaust-air current through said tube, the said mouthpiece being the intake of said exhaust-air current, substantially as described.

4. In a pneumatic cotton-picker, a flexible pneumatic picking and conveying tube hav- TOO IIO

ing an upturned mouthpiece, said mouthpiece being dared upwardly, and means to create an exhaust-air current through said tube, the said mouthpiece being the intake of said exhaust-air current, substantially as described.

5. In a pneumatic cotton-picker, a pneumatic trunk, Iiexible pneumatic picker-tubes communicating therewith and depending therefro1n,said picker-tubes having upturn ed mouthpieces at their lower ends forming airintakes and means to create exhaust-air currents through said flexible depending pickertubes and said pneumatic trunk, substantially as described.

6. In a pneumatic cotton-picker, the conlbination with a fan-casing and an exhaustfan therein, of a pneumatic trunk communicating with said casing, said trunk being pivotally supported and adapted to be swung to any desired angle to either side of the machine, and a series of flexible pneumatic picker-tubes attached to and depending from the said trunk, the said depending, eXible picker-tubes having the upturned mouthpieces at their lower ends forming air-intakes for the exhaust-air currents created by the fan, for the purpose set forth, substantially as described. 

